• Welcome to WSU
• WSU Faculty Definitions
• Course Information
• Ethical Responsibilities of Faculty
• Faculty Development
• General Employment Issues for Faculty
• Student Instructional Assistance
• Student Rights and Responsibilities

WELCOME TO WSU

There are many resources to help new contract, adjunct and clinical faculty succeed at WSU. These are described in detail in a Faculty Handbook which is available online http://faculty.weber.edu/handbook/.  This online Handbook has information on:

Academic Integrity Online Instruction Campus Governance Promotion & Tenure Support for WSU Faculty Student Referral Services General Campus Information Teaching & Learning Legal Considerations for Faculty With the exception of the sections on Campus Governance and Promotion & Tenure, the material in the online Faculty Handbook is relevant for all contract, adjunct and clinical faculty at WSU. Exceptions to this are noted within specific Handbook sections. The printed material in this section of the WSU New Employee Handbook is a basic introduction to your role as a WSU faculty member. For more information on the online Faculty Handbook or on being a WSU faculty member, contact the Office of Academic Affairs (ext 6006), or the Forum for Teaching & Learning (ext 7667)

WSU FACULTY DEFINITIONS http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/3-02.htm

CONTRACT FACULTY are hired for a specific term, are paid on an annual contract, and are considered “salaried” employees. Contract faculty hold academic rank or title within an academic department or program whose primary function is that of instruction, and depending on the percent of time worked, are eligible for benefits. ADJUNCT FACULTY are considered “non-salaried employees” because they are not hired on an annual contract basis. Adjunct faculty include individuals with professional or specialized credentials who are paid on a temporary or part-time basis - often by the course - to provide instruction or instructional-related services. Adjunct faculty may be given a title containing an academic rank provided the additional title of “Adjunct” precedes the designation of rank. An adjunct faculty appointment has no significance for the achieving or holding of tenure. CLINICAL FACULTY include individuals who make substantial regular contributions to the academic activities of the institution without financial compensation because they are employed elsewhere. Examples of clinical faculty include health care providers, student teacher supervisors, cooperative teachers, etc. These individuals supervise students while they are on assigned rotations within those settings. Clinical faculty may be given a title containing an academic rank provided the additional title of “Clinical” precedes the designation of rank. A clinical faculty appointment has no significance for the achieving or holding of tenure. CONCURRENT FACULTY include faculty in high schools or applied technology colleges who have been approved by the respective departments at WSU to teach concurrent enrollment courses. Generally these are courses taught at the faculty member's home institution. These faculty are not WSU salaried employees and are generally not compensated by WSU. RESEARCH FACULTY are persons working on campus in positions whose primary support comes from an external agency or institution. Typically these faculty are engaged in scholarship associated with a particular department or organization on campus. Research faculty must be appointed by an academic dean for a specific period of time and may be given a title containing an academic rank provided the additional title of "research" precedes the designation of rank. Such appointment has no significance for the achieving or holding of tenure. AFFILIATE FACULTY are a special category of faculty identified by the President upon recommendation of the appropriate department chair and dean. The title would apply to a person whose employment is with an organization that is associated with the university by contract or to a person who is a practicing professional or independent scholar associated with the university for specific research purposes. Affiliate faculty may be given a title containing an academic rank provided the additional title of "affiliate" precedes the designation of rank. Such appointment has no significance for the achieving or holding of tenure.

COURSE INFORMATION

ACADEMIC CALENDAR The academic calendar which identifies important dates can be found in the current catalog http://documents.weber.edu/catalog/ CANCELING CLASSES DURING THE TERM Faculty must report their anticipated absence from class during the term to their department chair or program director. Faculty are expected to make up time lost from canceled classes before the end of the term. CLASS PERIODS FOR EVENING/HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES Courses held in the evenings and in local high schools must meet the same “seat-time” standards as are classes offered during the day and on the WSU-Ogden and WSU-Davis campuses. Students are required to spend 50 minutes in class each week for every credit hour earned (i.e., a three credit class must meet for 150 minutes each week; break times are extra). CLASSROOMS AND TEACHING SUPPLIES Faculty who are teaching at the WSU-Ogden or WSU-Davis campus should check with their specific departments to determine where they will be teaching their classes and to determine what instructional materials are available to them. Faculty who are teaching in local high schools may receive room assignments and materials from their academic departments or from Continuing Education (located in Promontory Tower). Faculty who teach WSU classes in high schools are guests in these facilities and should respect, and expect WSU students to respect, these facilities. Faculty should leave their assigned high school classrooms in the same or better condition as they were found; clean the area of papers, do not allow food or drink, do not use teachers’ personal property, etc. Faculty should not utilize any existing supplies from the classroom; if items such as markers, transparencies, chalk and erasers, etc., are needed, WSU will furnish them. Please contact the academic department or Continuing Education office ahead of time for supplies, including copying and audiovisual equipment, and make arrangements for their distribution. COURSE ROLLS Faculty can access and download their class rolls through the Faculty/Staff portal accessible from the WSU home page http://weber.edu/.  Students whose names are not on the class roll are not considered to be registered for the course and may not receive final grades for the course. Students may withdraw from classes only during the first 60% of the term by following procedures published each term in the course schedule. The complete withdrawal policy can be found here http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/6-4.htm. FINAL EXAMINATIONS http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/4-21.htm Comprehensive final examinations are given only during the designated examination period for fall and spring semesters and must not be given during the week preceding this exam period. Make-up examinations and/or non-comprehensive final exams previously scheduled on the syllabus may be given during the final week of the term. Summer terms have no designated exam period, and final exams are usually given during the last scheduled class period. GRADING PROCEDURES http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/4-19.htm Students have a right to be evaluated in fair and unprejudiced ways, and the course evaluative criteria should be described in the course syllabus. The responsibility for grading and evaluating the academic performance of students shall rest with the faculty member who is teaching the course. Faculty must enter final grades into the online Electronic Grading System within three working days following the last scheduled examination of each semester/term. The Electronic Grading System is accessible through the Faculty/Staff Portal on the WSU home page http://weber.edu/.  Upon request, the Registration Office will supply the instructors with a copy of instructions for using the Electronic Grading System. Grade change forms are to be signed by the faculty member and stamped and initialed by the departmental secretary or submitted electronically. OFFICE HOURS http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/9-05.htm Faculty members should keep regular office hours for student consultation and/or otherwise make themselves accessible to students (provide e-mail address, telephone numbers, etc). The office hours should be scheduled at times convenient for students and should be posted on the faculty member’s office door and/or the course syllabus. Office hours should be honored at all times. SYLLABUS http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/9-05.htm,  http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/4-09a.htm,  http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/6-22.htm The faculty at large has the right to determine course content. Once course offerings are approved, the faculty member is obligated to teach the course in reasonable conformity with the course description, content and method announced in advanced in the course syllabus. Faculty members must provide a syllabus for each course. A syllabus should include: student learning goals/competencies, the required text, grading procedures, office hours, daily preparation, course assignments, exam schedules, and due dates for assignments. The syllabus could also describe the sanctions which may be imposed on students for inappropriate behavior or academic dishonesty. The syllabus for each course taught should be placed on file with the department chair. Sample syllabi templates can be found in the WSU First Year Experience program http://departments.weber.edu/fye/fye/teachers.html  and at this Penn State web site http://www.psu.edu/celt/PST/syllabus.html. TEXTBOOKS http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/4-16.htm The selection of textbooks for specific courses is the responsibility of the faculty, either an individual contract or adjunct faculty member or the collective departmental/program faculty. Textbooks selected for a course must be approved by the department chair or program director, and a record of the textbooks selected is maintained by the department. No faculty member can require students to purchase textbooks in which the faculty member has a financial interest without a prior approval of the appropriate dean or, in his/her absence, the Provost.

ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF FACULTY

http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/9-03.htm WSU endorses the 1966 "Statement of Professional Ethics" issued by the American Association of University Professors. These statements on ethics are derived from general professional consensus about the existence of certain precepts basic to acceptable faculty behavior. From these statements of ethical principles may be derived certain faculty responsibilities and accompanying standards of professional behavior which are specified in WSU policy (PPM 9-4 through 9-8). These policies describe faculty responsibilities to self and profession, to students, to colleagues, to the University and to the community as further described in PPM 9-4 through 9-8. Standards of professional behavior do delineate standards of conduct, the violation of which are sanctionable under the disciplinary procedures spelled out in WSU policy dealing with due process and enforcement procedures. Ethical and legal issues for faculty are further described in the online WSU Faculty Handbook, http://faculty.weber.edu/handbook/

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT

Several offices on campus are available to assist contract faculty with their teaching, scholarship and service responsibilities. Adjunct and clinical faculty should use any of the following offices which offer support for teaching activities. See the online WSU Faculty Handbook, http://faculty.weber.edu/handbook/,  for a more comprehensive list. TEACHING & LEARNING FORUM, Stewart Library, Room 95, ext 7667, http://programs.weber.edu/tlf/ The aim of the Forum is to create an environment on campus which promotes discussions of teaching and learning for contract, adjunct and clinical faculty. OFFICE OF SPONSORED PROJECTS, Miller Administration Bldg, Room 102, ext 6056, http://departments.weber.edu/osp/ This office provides administrative support for WSU participation in externally sponsored programs and projects which facilitate faculty research, scholarship, creative works and professional development, and help meet institutional needs and student support. The Office of Sponsored Projects provides assistance in identifying funding sources, developing and submitting proposals, negotiating and accepting awards, and administering the funded projects. Only contract faculty may serve as program or project principal investigators; other faculty may assume other roles within funded proposals. RESEARCH, SCHOLARSHIP & PROFESSIONAL GROWTH (RS&PG) COMMITTEE Faculty Senate Office, Miller Administration Building, Room 210J, Ext. 6233, http://faculty.weber.edu/senate/rspg/Default.asp This committee makes awards to support contract faculty in their teaching and scholarship activities. Some RS&PG funds are set aside specifically to support contract faculty during their first two years of WSU employment. Non-contract faculty are not eligible to receive RS&PG awards, unless their proposal is co-sponsored by a contract faculty member.

GENERAL EMPLOYMENT ISSUES FOR FACULTY

COMPENSATION FOR TEACHING Contract faculty are paid on the 3rd and the 18th of each month. This check includes both regular pay and any over-load pay that may be earned. Compensation for adjunct faculty is based on the course(s) taught each term. Payment begins one month after the term begins and occurs on the 3rd and 18th of each month through-out the term. Direct deposit of paychecks is available for contract and adjunct faculty, and may be arranged through the Payroll Office in the Miller Administration Building, 626-6031. Only contract or adjunct faculty typically receive compensation for teaching. CONTRACT TEACHING PERIODS http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/3-16.htm Most contract faculty have nine-month appointments. This typically covers any two of the three terms in the 12-month academic year including the opening fall meetings, and the fall and spring semester commencement exercises. Each of the term commitments includes instruction and examination days as scheduled by WSU. EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/3-42.htm,  http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/3-43.htm, http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/3-45.htm Contract faculty members have the following benefits: Leave, holiday, retirement and insurance benefits (these benefits are prorated for contract, salaried faculty with less than full-time appointments; faculty do not earn vacation) Bookstore discount Use of physical education facilities Use of Union Building facilities requiring I.D. (movies, bowling, etc.) Discount on certain specified University-sponsored activities and events Borrowing privileges at the Library Regular parking privileges Tuition benefits as defined in PPM 3-42 Adjunct, clinical, concurrent, research and affiliate faculty member have the following benefits only during the terms in which they are actively teaching: ID card privileges Bookstore discount Use of physical education facilities Use of Shepherd Union Building facilities requiring ID card (movies, bowling, etc.) Discount on certain specified University-sponsored activities and events (basketball, football, volleyball in designated seating areas) Borrowing privileges at the Stewart Library Regular parking privileges Tuition benefits as defined in PPM 3-42 STUDENT EVALUATIONS (http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/8-11.htm) Full-time, contract faculty are required to have a minimum of two courses evaluated by students each year. The two courses to be evaluated each year are determined jointly by the faculty member and department chair/program director. Adjunct and clinical faculty are often evaluated each time they teach a course. This is determined by the chair or director. Summaries of student teaching evaluations are kept on file in the office of the chair/director. TEACHING LOADS FOR FACULTY (http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/4-7a.htm) The normal teaching load for contract faculty is 24 semester hours per academic year. In addition to the standard 24 semester hours of teaching, contract faculty members are expected to assume other professional responsibilities such as advising students, maintaining office hours, performing public service, engaging in research and other scholarly activities, and serving on committees. Adjunct or clinical faculty members are usually hired only to teach selected course(s) and often have no other professional responsibilities to WSU, other than attending regular departmental faculty meetings.

STUDENT INSTRUCTIONAL ASSISTANCE

There are a number of offices and individuals available to assist contract and adjunct faculty as they work with students http://departments.weber.edu/assp/assp.asp.  Many of these offices are located within the Student Affairs Division http://departments.weber.edu/studentaffairs/.  In addition, faculty are encouraged to use the services of the: Academic Advisement Center http://departments.weber.edu/aac/ Student computer labs http://departments.weber.edu/assp/assp.asp Stewart Library http://library.weber.edu/ Writing Center http://departments.weber.edu/writingcenter/ Student referral services are further described in the online WSU Faculty Handbook http://faculty.weber.edu/handbook/.

STUDENT RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

POSTING GRADES, RETURNING PAPERS, AND RECORD CONFIDENTIALITY A federal law, the Family Educational Rights And Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA, also known as the Buckley Amendment) as amended, affords students certain rights concerning their student educational records. Students have the right to have some control over the disclosure of information from the records. Educational institutions have the responsibility to prevent improper disclosure of personally identifiable information from the records. Faculty should uphold the FERPA rights of students http://departments.weber.edu/registrar/FERPA.htm. STUDENT CODE http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/6-22.htm The rights and responsibilities of WSU students are outlined in the WSU Student Code. Faculty may want to refer to specific sections of the Code when stating behavioral expectations in course syllabi.